News

Chairman of the Avant Garde Maritime Services Ltd. (AGMS), Nissanka Yapa Senadhipathi has been taken into custody by CID sleuths in the early hours of Thursday (17) when he arrived at the Banadaranaike International Airport.

Senadhipathi had departed from Singapore on flight SQ 468 at around 11.35 pm yesterday.  

The Attorney General had directed the Acting IGP to arrest Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi and seven others and produce them in court in connection with the magisterial inquiry into the Avant Garde floating armoury case at the Galle Magistrate’s Court

The suspects are facing charges under the Firearms Ordinance and Explosives Act. These are in relation to 813 unlicensed automatic weapons and 200,935 live ammunition found aboard ship M.V. Avant Garde.

The others named in the letter sent to the Acting IGP are Major General (Rtd.) Waduge Palitha Piyasiri Fernando, Major General (Rtd.) Karunaratna Banda Adhikari Egodawele, Rtd. Commodore Vishvajith Nandana Diyabalanage, National Police Commission Secretary and Ministry of Defence former Senior Additional Secretary Saman Dissanayake, Rtd. Air Vice Marshall P.B. Premachandra, Ministry of Defence former Senior Additional Secretary D.M.S. Damayanthi Jayaratne and former chairman of Rakna Lanka Victor Samaraweera.

In addition to this, three of the suspects, namely Senadhipathi, Premachandra and Saman Dissanayake stand accused of falsifying evidence for which they face charges under the Penal Code.

The AG said that as the Supreme Court had rejected FR petitions filed by five of the accused, there are no hindrances to arresting them.

In relation to three others, namely Premachandra, Jayaratne and Samaraweera, the AG has instructed that their statements be recorded, named as suspects and produced before the relevant Magistrate.

The AG also instructed to name P.B. Premachandra, Damayanthi Jayaratne and Victor Samaraweera as suspects and to proceed according to the provisions of the Penal Code Ordinance, record their statements and produce them before court as suspects without delay.

The National Economic Council (NEC) set up by President Maithripala Sirisena was scrapped at the Cabinet meeting yesterday (15). President Sirisena chaired the Cabinet meeting.

The NEC headed by Prof. Lalith Samarakoon was set up by the President after faulting the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of being ineffective and failing to address key economic issues.

The NEC under the purview of the President was meant to have played a role in economic policy making.  

New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has said his opponents have finally accepted that Field Marshal, MP Sarath Fonseka was the real victor of the war.

Premadasa said at a rally in Dodangaslanda that his opponents have finally accepted that they have lied to the people on the war victory.

“The whole country found out the false claim made by my opponent on the war victory. Both my opponent and his leader had to accept that the Field Marshal was the real victor. It was clear that falsehood does not last long. Nature does not allow falsehood to dominate. The truth will prevail at this year’s presidential election,” Premadasa said.

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Wariyapola,Premadasa said the truth will win the day.

“After ten years those who boasted have had to make a confession that he was not the real victor. He was not able to answer the questions raised by the journalists,” he said.

“I will also hold a press conference. I will participate in it alone. I don’t want anyone else to support me at the conference. I will show how I will face questions of journalists,” Premadasa further noted.

“My opponents claim they are patriotic. My opponents betrayed the forces. When a foreign journalist asked about the military operations he got frightened and said the army commander did everything. What a covered act. We will not betray the forces. However, Sajith Premadasa will face the international community on behalf of forces. This country needs iron leadership. I will provide such leadership to this country,” he added.

A test flight from India yesterday (15) landed at the new Jaffna International Airport ahead of the formal opening tomorrow (17).

India’s Alliance Air had made a successful landing on the new runway of the airport which will be declared open on Thursday as Sri Lanka’s third international airport.

The airport already accommodates domestic and military flights and has now been developed to facilitate larger international flights.

Alliance Air is to operate seven flights a week from Chennai to Palaly and Batticaloa in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary, MP Dayasiri Jayasekara says the SLFP organisers who have extended their support to the United National Party (UNP) presidential candidate, Sajith Premadasa were sacked from the party.

Jayasekara has made this observation in response to Premadasa’s claim that more than 40 SLFPers had joined hands with his party.

According to Jayasekara, forming an organisation to protect the SLFP and allying themselves with the UNP could not be called as protecting the SLFP.

“The SLFP must be protected by its members while being in the SLFP. True SLFPers would protect the SLFP and its integrity while moving forward in this journey. Despite the obstacles we might face, we will stand united for the victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and move forward while protecting the dignity of the SLFP,” he has told the media.

A 30 day scholarship training programme under the 'Silk Road Project for Sri Lankan Media Talents - 2019', commenced on 10th October at the Chongqing Normal University in China.

The Sri Lankan media delegation received a high level welcome at the inauguration of the programme that was attended by the Heads of the University, academic staff and students.

A delegation of 20 media professionals covering print and electronic media attended this programme.

The training programme was coordinated by the Sri Lanka - China Journalists' Forum trough an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the Chongqing Normal University last year for an annual scholarship exchange programme of journalists for the Belt and Road Educational Project.

The MOU has also facilitated a group of media professionals from the University of Kelaniya to be included in this year's programme.

This 30 day training programme is currently being held at the Chongqing Normal University in China. The trainees will receive the Silk Road Scholarship Certificate at the end of the programme.

The National Election Commission (NEC) has said objected to the use war and the war-victory by candidates in their presidential election campaigns.

“War does not belong to any political party but to the state. The state is the people. Therefore, no party can use the war in the election campaign,” NEC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has told the media.

Dehspriya has said the Commission has called for explanations from the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and the President’s office on the advertisement published recently which had said Army Commander, Lt. General Shavendra Silva and several other senior military officers had pledged support to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at this year’s presidential election.

The NEC Chairman has said the army commander should make a clarification on the issue.

“We feel that the Army Commander should make a statement on the issue. It’s been one week since the advertisement appeared on media. Therefore, it is time he issues a statement and say whether he really supports a candidate or not,” Deshapriya has said.

“It is illegal to exhibit a picture of an ex-military officer in election propaganda,” he has added.

The Election Commission (EC) has received a complaint stating that a candidate contesting the upcoming presidential election has violated the Code of Ethics announced by the Commission by using statements made by military officers.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) complaint states that despite the requirement of every candidate contesting the election to abide by the Code of Ethics set out by the Election Commission when conducting their election campaigns, a violation of the Code of Ethics had taken place in a newspaper advertisement.

Three newspapers had published full-page advertisements, which featured statements made by former Triforce Commanders about Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

However, among the statements of high ranking military officers published in the advertisement is a statement made by incumbent Army Commander, Lt. Gen Shavendra Silva on the 28th of December 2009.

Lt. General Silva is still the Army Commander on active duty and the use of his statement compromises the integrity of civil-military relations in Sri Lanka, CMEV has pointed out.
CMEV has added that the integrity of the election would be severely compromised if other candidates also adopted this practice.

Former Defence Secretary and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that although he would work with the UN and human rights organisations in resolving contentious issues he could not recognize the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka because it was ‘illegal.’

The 30/1 UN resolution titled, ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ was co-sponsored by the present Sri Lankan government and adopted in 2015.

Addressing his maiden news briefing as a presidential hopeful at Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, Gotabaya said that he will always work with the UN but would not recognize what it had signed with different governments.

The SLPP presidential hopeful was flanked by SLPP Leader, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and other party leaders.

“It was not a government of mine. My personal view is that it is not a legal document,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said when asked how he would follow up with commitments made through the UN resolution in 2015.

He further noted that as a party they had already rejected that resolution in public and that everyone knew that there was a stark difference between their policies and that of the incumbent government.

“We will work with UN and Human Rights organisations as well in solving issues but the resolution is not something we signed,” Gotabaya has said.

Mangala rejects Gota's claims!

After Mahinda’s defeat at the election on 08 January 2015, the new Government managed to reassert Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and regain Sri Lanka’s independent right to take charge of discharging the responsibilities of the Government towards its own citizens, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

"As a result of taking charge of handling our own problems ourselves in consultation with all our own citizens, international action that would have followed as a result of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka that was established under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in March 2014 ceased. As a result of Sri Lanka taking charge of discharging its own responsibilities towards its own citizens, international efforts became focused thereafter on support for Sri Lanka’s efforts," Samaraweera said.

Contrary to Gota's narrative, there are no resolutions AGAINST Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council anymore. The resolutions since 2015 are to work together with our partner nations in the world so that our citizens benefit from the best expertise in the world, and we work with all our citizens to set up processes that would help us put behind decades of distrust, violence and impunity and promote, protect and advance the human rights of all our citizens, the former foreign minister noted.

"I urge you to pause to think a little. If this resolution that Gota speaks of is against Sri Lanka – then there should be strictures on Sri Lanka through the resolution, or an investigation established as in March 2014 when Mahinda was President, or there should be sanctions. The resolutions from 2015, on the contrary, do no such thing. They have instead been the basis to secure economic benefits for all our citizens both in the short-term as well as in the long-term. They have been the basis for re-establishing and renewing trust and confidence of our own citizens. They have been the basis for establishing engagement with the international community to benefit our citizens, our administrators, our prosecutors, our forensic experts and our security forces with greater opportunities overall. They have been the basis for the doors of opportunity being open to us to develop Sri Lanka as a hub in the Indian Ocean and pursue a prosperous future for all," Samaraweera added. 

President Maithripala Sirisena has directed the relevant defence authorities to provide security for candidates contesting the upcoming presidential election.

The order was given at the Security Council meeting held yesterday (15).

There are 35 candidates contesting at this year’s presidential polls, which is scheduled to be held on November 16th.